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Featured Comment by Ed Kirkpatrick: "That would have been Sandra Bullock."

Mike replies:Thanks Ed. Speaking of SB, she's quite witty isn't she? I mentioned a while back that I've never seen one of her movies, but maybe I need to go see "The Blind Side."

I was rather shocked that they doubled the number of Best Picture nominees to ten and I still hadn't seen a single one of them. I do have the video for "Food Inc." here in the stack, if that counts—I think it was nominated for Best Documentary, although I think the guy who got censored for his save-the-dolphins sign was the winner in that category.

Featured Comment by Zlatko: "It was Sandra Bullock: 'So…if I can take this moment to thank Helga B. for not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was eighteen because she was right, I would’ve done what she said I was gonna do. For making me practice every day when I got home. Piano, ballet, whatever it is I wanted to be. She said to be an artist, you had to practice every day....'"

Featured Comment by Joe
Cameron: "Mike, Don't know if I ever sent you this one, but a
favorite quote (source unknown) follows: 'An artist can never fail. Just
to be one is a success.'"

Comments

That also applies to knowing how just to use a modern-day DSLR: if I don't use my 7D every day I start to lose the connection, the practice, the flow with the machine and any art that might have been lurking doesn't have a chance. So, every single day....click...whether anything meaningful happens....click.....or not.....click....I use my camera....click....

"Not enough time, so I would like to thank what this film is about for me which are the moms that take care of the babies and the children no matter where they come from. Those moms and parents never get thanked. I, in particular, failed to thank one. So... if I can take this moment to thank Helga B. for not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was 18 because she was right. I would've done what she said I was gonna do. For making me practice every day when I got home. Piano, ballet, whatever it is I wanted to be. She said to be an artist, you had to practice every day, and for reminding her daughters that there's no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else."

From Sandra Bullock's acceptance speech. She curiously managed to win the Oscar despite giving the worst performance among the nominees for best actress, but she probably gave the best speech of the evening, which says more about the whole dreary spectacle than about her talents as a speaker.

At least Avatar didn't win, but all in all, this year more than ever, the awards ceremony had an incredible air of being fixed. But yes, practise every day by all means.

At least that performer (was it Sandra Bullock?) said something of worth, something young people might take to their hearts. And the speech was damned funny too! Everything else on the show was a waste of time. (Thankfully, not having a TV I instead followed the Guardian web coverage, which was far more amusing than the event itself.)

"Don't hold your breath! I'm so not winning an Oscar." -- Sandra Bullock, the Friday before winning her Best Actress Oscar.

A good sport, too. She showed up in person to accept the Worst Actress Razzie for her performance in "All About Steve", carting 700 copies of the film and a promise to show up next year to return the award if the voting members would actually watch the film.

it's a nice qoute and the truth. Goes hand in hand with another good one. "Art is not an answer, it's always a question." by Dieter Meier (Swiss singer of avantgarde electro pioneers Yello and also performance artist, writer, photographer...www.dietermeier.com]

similar speech gave Michael Giacchino (won oscar for best original music score in Up): Thank you, guys. When I was... I was nine and I asked my dad, "Can I have your movie camera? That old, wind-up 8 millimeter camera that was in your drawer?" And he goes, "Sure, take it." And I took it and I started making movies with it and I started being as creative as I could, and never once in my life did my parents ever say, "What you're doing is a waste of time." Never. And I grew up, I had teachers, I had colleagues, I had people that I worked with all through my life who always told me what you're doing is not a waste of time. So that was normal to me that it was OK to do that. I know there are kids out there that don't have that support system so if you're out there and you're listening, listen to me: If you want to be creative, get out there and do it. It's not a waste of time. Do it. OK? Thank you. Thank you.